{"id":1312562,"date":"2025-10-28T12:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/ukraine-to-create-air-shield-with-f-16-gripen-and-rafale\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T10:11:12","slug":"ukraine-to-create-air-shield-with-f-16-gripen-and-rafale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/ukraine-to-create-air-shield-with-f-16-gripen-and-rafale\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine to create air shield with F-16, Gripen and Rafale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Ukraine is implementing a large-scale project to develop its own combat aircraft fleet, which in the future should number about 250 modern aircraft &#8211; F-16, Gripen, and Rafale.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this during a conversation with journalists, RBC-Ukraine<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.ua\/rus\/news\/flot-250-litakiv-zelenskiy-okresliv-maybutnyu-1761637435.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p> According to the head of state, the creation of such a fleet will be a strategic step in restoring military aviation and ensuring the long-term security of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We are simultaneously negotiating with Sweden, France, and the United States. The common goal is to form a fleet of 250 new generation aircraft. This is our future,&#8221; the president emphasized.<\/p>\n<p> Zelenskyy emphasized that the transition to modern aviation platforms will not only strengthen the defense capabilities of the airspace, but will also open the way to the integration of the Ukrainian defense sector into the Western technological ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p> Ukraine is currently holding parallel negotiations with three countries \u2014 the United States, Sweden, and France \u2014 regarding the acquisition of three types of aircraft, which, according to the president, best meet the needs of the Air Force, taking into account the experience of Ukrainian pilots and the characteristics of the enemy.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We have chosen three main platforms \u2014 F-16, Gripen and Rafale. This is the optimal solution given our tasks and resources,&#8221; Zelenskyy noted.<\/p>\n<p> The head of state paid special attention to the Swedish Gripen, calling them a priority for Ukraine. According to him, these aircraft have a number of advantages:<\/p>\n<ul><\/p>\n<li> the cheapest to maintain among analogues;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> Pilot training lasts only about half a year;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> can even take off from highways;<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li> compatible with Ukrainian types of weapons.<\/li>\n<p><\/ul>\n<p> &#8220;Gripen can carry almost the entire range of weapons that Ukraine already uses &#8211; from missiles to high-precision equipment. This makes them extremely versatile,&#8221; the president emphasized.<\/p>\n<p> Zelensky also reported on preliminary agreements with Sweden &#8211; Ukraine plans to receive 150 Gripen aircraft and launch localized production of this equipment.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;We agreed that we will sign an agreement &#8211; Ukraine will receive 150 new Gripen. This is a long but extremely important path. The main thing is that we agreed to deploy production in Ukraine. I consider this a historic decision,&#8221; Zelenskyy concluded.<\/p>\n<p> Recall that <a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/shvedska-kompaniia-hotova-vidkryty-zavod-v-ukraini-u-mezhakh-uhody-na-150-vynyshchuvachiv-gripen\/\">the Swedish defense company Saab has announced its readiness to open a final assembly plant in Ukraine<\/a> as part of a potential deal to purchase 150 Gripen fighter aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force.<\/p>\n<p> It was also previously reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/https-prm-ua-p-1311263-preview-true\/\">France announced another package of military support for Ukraine, which includes the transfer of additional Mirage 2000 fighters and Aster missiles<\/a> , intended to strengthen the Ukrainian air defense system.<\/p>\n<p> Also follow <strong>\u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prm_ua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Twitter<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/+rtV4dxYu2_cyNjVi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Telegram<\/a> , and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine is implementing a large-scale project to develop its own combat aircraft fleet, which in the future should number about 250 modern aircraft &#8211; F-16, Gripen, and Rafale. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this during a conversation with journalists, RBC-Ukrainereports . According to the head of state, the creation of such a fleet will be a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1312557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76896],"class_list":["post-1312562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-techno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1312557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}